Apple : Apple Watch 6 could be faster, more reliable and water resistant |
- Apple Watch 6 could be faster, more reliable and water resistant
- The best 15-inch laptop
- The best mesh Wi-Fi routers
- The 16-inch MacBook Pro reportedly still in production with release date unknown
- The best 3D printers
- The best VPN routers
- Surprise! Disney Plus has doubled the number of Marvel movies at launch to 16
- The best small business routers
- Amazon's pre-Black Friday sale includes deals on TVs, laptops, headphones & more
- AMD may pack GPU units into Ryzen 9 to keep Intel on edge
- Motorola Razr 2019 release date, price, news and leaks
- Best games console 2019: PS4 Pro, Xbox One X, Nintendo Switch and more
- The 2017 MacBook Air is at its lowest price we've seen before Black Friday
- Amazon Echo vulnerable to old security flaws
- Score a free Nintendo Switch or 4K TV with EE's stellar Black Friday 2019 phone offers
- Get a free year of Amazon Prime with TalkTalk's broadband and TV deals
- The cheapest PlayStation Plus prices for memberships for Black Friday 2019
- Rick and Morty season 4's UK airdate has been brought forward to November
- Best website defacement monitoring service of 2019
| Apple Watch 6 could be faster, more reliable and water resistant Posted: 11 Nov 2019 01:48 PM PST We still don’t know much about the Apple Watch 6, but reputed analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has new predictions for the models coming in 2020: faster speeds, improved wireless connectivity, and better water resistance. That’s all thanks to the switch to liquid crystal polymer (LCP) materials in the circuit boards coming in the company’s next wearable, the Apple Watch 6, Kuo reportedly claimed in a research note with investor firm TF International Securities - a note seen by MacRumors. (Series 5 models and prior use polymide (PI) instead.)
Exactly how the LCP directly improves performance in these areas is unclear. Conceivably, faster internal connectivity could improve the Apple Watch 6’s Wi-Fi and cell speeds - and perhaps speed up other processes on the smartwatch. On the other hand, it’s very likely that the wearable will come with a faster S6 chipset given each Apple Watch has come with a newly-iterated processor in the S-line (the S5 in the Apple Watch 5, S4 in the Watch 4, and so on). As for the water resistance, the Apple Watch 5 is rated to resist up to 50m of water, so it’s unclear how new internal materials could improve this capability. Apple Watch 6 - what it could improve onThe Apple Watch 5 only included a handful of improvements over the Apple Watch 4, including an always-on display, an added compass to show direction in the Maps app, and noise detection - not exactly essential upgrades. The Apple Watch 6 could receive similarly underwhelming iterative upgrades, but given how few rumors we’ve seen, it’s hard to tell what Apple has planned. We do, however, have a few ideas on how the next Apple smartwatch could improve - most importantly, longer than single-day battery life. Via PhoneArena
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| Posted: 11 Nov 2019 01:39 PM PST The best 15-inch laptops are the most common portables on the market, and that’s perhaps because they’re basically the Goldilocks of notebooks. They’re not too big and not too small, but just the right size. In other words, when considering the entire spectrum of the laptops in terms of their form factor, 15-inch laptops sit between the larger 17-inch (or even bigger) notebooks, and the compact 11 to 13-inch models. On top of that, 15-inch laptops can be nicely portable – they can be very slim and lightweight, but still have enough space in their chassis to fit in powerful components as well as a display that’s large enough so you won’t have to squint to see finer details. When it comes to gaming, these devices also offer enough display real estate to properly appreciate stunning visuals on higher settings. They might even come packing a good discrete GPU, to boot. If you’re in the market for the best 15-inch laptop 2019 has to offer, we picked out 10 of the ones across a number of categories – from hybrids to business machines, covering all platforms including Windows 10, macOS, Chromebooks and even Linux. There’s something on this list for every single person on a hunt for the most ideal mid-sized notebook for their needs. The Microsoft Surface Book 2 delivers incredibly long battery life and boasts a gorgeous display. Microsoft produced something pretty special with the Surface Book 2. It’s an extremely versatile machine being a 2-in-1, and it has a ton of power packed into its relatively slim convertible form factor. Thanks to its discrete GTX 1060 graphics, its Core i7 configuration can even tackle newer games at Full HD resolution and showing off decent details so you want to kick back and relax. But, there are a few more reasons why this Microsoft laptop gets the top spot on our best 15-inch laptops list. For instance, it delivers incredibly long battery life, as we discovered in our testing, and boasts a gorgeous display that’s impressively light when detached as a tablet. The only thing that may dissuade potential buyers with is that high price tag. Yes, this is one pricey 15-inch laptop. On the upside, there’s decent discounts popping up regularly – and Microsoft has also manufactured a significantly cheaper Core i5 version, though this configuration has no discrete GPU. As usual, if you want the best, it will cost you – but check out our next entry for a great alternative that won’t damage your wallet to anything like this extent. The Acer Swift 3 is an excellent alternative if affordability is a priority. If you don’t want to shell out a lot of cash for the Surface Pro 2, then consider the Acer Swift 3. It’s an excellent alternative if affordability is a priority. This laptop is not a hybrid, but it is feature-rich and can turn its hand to pretty much everything as a result. Bear in mind that there are a number of different configurations and models of the Acer Swift 3 on hand, including 14-inch and 15-inch models that we reviewed, and loved. What we are referring to in this list, however, are its 15.6-inch variants that rock 8th-gen Intel processors, and pack impressively powerful components given their price tags. Some configurations even offer both hard drives and SSDs, giving you space and speed, as well as Intel Optane options. These laptops will see you through any everyday computing task without breaking a sweat, with a spot of light gaming on the side. You also get an impressive selection of ports, along with great input peripherals (including a large trackpad and backlit keyboard), a fingerprint scanner, and sterling battery life. At first glance, Acer’s Swift 3 might look like a bland budget portable, but don’t judge a laptop by its cover. This is a great all-rounder with some tempting deals to be had online. The HP Spectre x360 15T (2019) delivers versatility in spades. If you want a 15-inch convertible with versatility in spades must consider HP’s popular Spectre x360. It’s a gorgeous-looking laptop with an elegant design, albeit with a few oddities, including an awkwardly positioned trackpad. However, this laptop isn’t just pretty – it backs these good looks with enough power to cut through any computing task you might wish to tackle. Of course, it helps that the very latest incarnation of this hybrid has updated its hexa-core CPU to a 9th-gen Intel Core i7-9750H. Creative types will also appreciate the bundled Tilt Pen that can be used for drawing and designing on its exquisite 4K IPS touchscreen display. This 2-in-1 also packs a discrete GTX 1650 graphics card, which means it can even tackle 1080p gaming to boot. As we said, this 15.6-inch laptop delivers versatility in spades, but it also doesn’t come cheap. At least, it’s more affordable than Microsoft’s Surface Book 2. This year, Apple has boosted the power of the MacBook Pro 15-inch. If you’re after a powerful notebook in a 15-inch form factor which is ideal for creative usage – such as video editing or Photoshop – then you’ll be well served by taking the macOS route rather than Windows, with the larger MacBook Pro. This year Apple has boosted the power of the MacBook Pro 15-inch with new 9th-generation Intel processors, with options that run up to a mighty 8-core Intel Core i9. So you most certainly won’t be left wanting on the performance front, with our review benchmarks showing that this 2019 incarnation is a considerably more powerful MacBook than its predecessor. This 15-inch laptop is ideal for heavyweight editing with a choice of AMD Radeon Pro graphics solutions and the possibility to spec up the notebook to 32GB of RAM. And don’t forget the high-quality Retina display along with that improved Touch Bar which can certainly prove a very useful tool with creative applications. The Asus VivoBook S15 (S532F) boasts a 15-6-inch display without compromising its slimline design. While Asus VivoBook S15 has been designed to become among the best ultra-portables on the market this 2019, it also aims to provide a large enough display for those who need it. That’s a hard undertaking, but one that this top-performing laptop has achieved with high marks. It boasts a 15-6-inch display and a solid performance without compromising its slimline design. You might not be able to do some heavy gaming on this, but you should get some photo editing done. The Dell G5 15 could easily deal with 1080p gaming. If your budget won’t stretch to something like the MSI laptop above, then this more affordable gaming laptop from Dell makes a great choice for a 15-inch model that won’t make such a hole in your bank balance. We reviewed the Dell G5 15 5590 and found it could easily deal with 1080p gaming, while giving you a pretty incredible level of battery longevity (around 10 hours for movie playback, which is remarkable for a gaming portable). Overall, it’s a really well-balanced machine with a reasonable price tag, and the latest versions of the Dell G5 15 have been refreshed to include 9th-gen Intel Core processors (up to six-core models). The Razer Blade 2019 one of the best gaming laptops on the market. Rocking 8th-generation and 9th-generation Intel Core processors – not to mention, powerful graphics and a gorgeous display to boot, the Razer Blade isn’t just one of the best gaming laptops on the market. It’s also one of the best 15-inch laptops to consider, if you’re seeking to update your aging gaming laptop. That’s more than impressive for a laptop this thin that is also upgradeable. Expect to pay a lot for all that, but you’re paying for style and power that will last you a while. The Gigabyte Aero 15 OLED delivers incredible RTX gaming experience and touting a reasonable price to boot. We didn’t think that gaming ultrabooks were ready for RTX graphics until the Gigabyte Aero 15 OLED proved us otherwise. This isn’t just a solid gaming laptop; this is a solid gaming laptop that delivers incredible RTX gaming experience and touting a reasonable price to boot. It’s not that it’s cheap, especially at higher configurations. However, for what you’re paying, you’re getting a lot of power for your gaming needs. The Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 (15-inch) will last you the whole work day on a single charge. We hoped for great things in the next Surface Laptop model. However, when the 2019 installment of this 15-inch laptop came out, it fell a bit short on both power and versatility. However, if it’s spec above are satisfactory to you and you require a device that will last you the whole work day on a single charge, then the Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 (15-inch) might just be the best 15-inch laptop for you. During our review, this device lasted 10 hours and 18 minutes in our TechRadar battery test. As long as you can forgive the lack of ports. The good news for those after a business laptop in the 15-inch form factor is that there’s an incredible machine available in the form of the ThinkPad X1 Extreme. The bad news, though, is that the price tag is as extreme as the superb performance levels you’ll get with this portable. It’s difficult to know where to start in describing just how good this machine is. Maybe the 15.6-inch multi-touch display, which in the 4K HDR option is simply stunning and benefits from top-notch color accuracy? Or the speedy performance driven by a six-core CPU, GTX 1050 Ti graphics and superfast NVMe SSD? Or just the little things, like the well-featured connectivity, the refined keyboard, or the potential for upgrades with this laptop? As we already mentioned, the price may cause the odd eyebrow to rise or jaw to slacken – possibly both – but some corporate users will doubtless want to own the ultimate business laptop for their mission-critical tasks. And the ThinkPad X1 Extreme definitely fulfils that ‘ultimate’ billing, and arguably not just in the 15-inch world. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 11 Nov 2019 01:26 PM PST If you haven’t considered getting one of the best mesh Wi-Fi routers for your home or office, this list will certainly change your mind. Unlike traditional wireless routers, which are typically single receivers situated only in one room while broadcasting Wi-Fi throughout the rest of your house or apartment, the best mesh Wi-Fi routers are made up of several units. These units can be strategically placed around your home or office to guarantee a strong and consistent Wi-Fi signal throughout your whole space. Simply by placing several nodes in key areas of your home, you will get you a solid, unified Wi-Fi network with the best mesh Wi-Fi routers, no matter where you are in that whole space. That’s unlike how Wi-Fi extenders work, which only take the original Wi-Fi signal from the best wireless routers and repeat it to extend the original router’s range. This approach requires a separate SSID for the extender, as you’re essentially just creating a second network, and can be a pain since your device won't automatically switch to the different network. In addition, filling your home with several Wi-Fi networks can negatively impact the network’s performance. Utilizing the best mesh Wi-Fi routers to provide solid coverage throughout your space, therefore, is better. And, these routers can be easy to set up. Simply connect the main unit to your internet connection, press a few buttons, and pair up the other units, resulting in one large – not to mention, fast – Wi-Fi network. With Google WiFi, Google has taken dominion over the mesh WiFi world. The Google Wifi tops, possibly, the best wireless mesh routers we’ve ever used, and we’re not saying that casually. In fact, we’d even go so far as to say that it may be the best wireless mesh router, at least to date. Not only does it have the power to push fast Wi-Fi throughout your house – an even more impressive feat considering its diminutive size, but it’s also fairly cheap and not that hard to set up. Setting up is so simple that all you have to do to configure Google Wifi is to download an app to your smartphone, scan some QR codes and just place the nodes where you want around your house. With Google WiFi, the company has taken dominion over the mesh WiFi world. The Netgear Orbi boast more than enough Ethernet ports. If you have deep pockets, then check out the Netgear Orbi, which may be one of the best wireless mesh routers money can buy. Instead of something like the Google Wifi, which uses three identical nodes to create the network, you’ll get one main router and several satellite nodes to plug into power outlets around your home. In addition, the Orbi touts more than enough Ethernet ports, making it an exceptional option for anyone with a number of devices that need a hardwired connection. This mesh router is the best choice for consumers who use their network mostly for gaming, particularly across multiple devices. The TP-Link Deco M5 is an affordable way to spread Wi-Fi throughout your home. If you’re looking for a way to spread Wi-Fi throughout your home without having to spend a lot of dough, then look into the TP-Link Deco M5. It’s not as speedy as some of the other best mesh Wi-Fi routers on this list, but if you’re not too concerned about getting the maximum theoretical throughput, which you probably won’t be able to take full advantage of anyway, this shouldn’t be too much of an issue. Setup, similar to the other devices here, is a breeze, even if you’re not tech-savvy. The TP-Link Deco M5 is among the best wireless mesh routers for those who don’t want to get too technical. You'll find a lot to love in the Ubiquiti Amplifi HD. If you love Apple’s design philosophy, enjoy having attractive gadgets set up around your home and have more than enough extra money sitting around, then the Ubiquiti Amplifi HD is the perfect mesh router for you. You’ll find a lot to love with this device, especially if you live in a large house and can take advantage of the full power that this mesh Wi-Fi setup provides, as it’s capable of a very large amount of throughput. You might find that the value diminishes quite a bit when you live in a smaller space however, since there are more affordable alternatives on hand for small to medium homes. The Ubiquiti Amplifi HD may be pricey, but you’re paying for a piece of tech that both exudes style and a ton of substance. That’s more than enough to justify the price tag, making this a great addition to the best wireless mesh routers list. There's something to be said about the simplicity that the Linksys Velop delivers. While it’s expensive and not quite as powerful as the other Wi-Fi mesh routers on this list, there’s something to be said about the simplicity that the Linksys Velop offers. It might come with a heftier price than the competition, but the Velop will appeal to people who need to create a Wi-Fi network and want to avoid setting it up. More tech-savvy users will most likely look elsewhere – why spend money when you can do the work yourself for free? However, for most users, the Linksys Velop is among the best wireless mesh routers because of the convenience it offers from the start. It’s also completely modular, so you only have to pick up as many nodes as you actually need – one node will cover up to 2,000 square feet. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| The 16-inch MacBook Pro reportedly still in production with release date unknown Posted: 11 Nov 2019 01:20 PM PST Apple may not have launched the 16-inch MacBook Pro in October when some projections had expected it to show up. But, with that timeline passed, 2020 is looking more likely, and it may currently be in production according to IDC Analyst Jitesh Ubrani, Forbes reports. Explaining the signs that the 16-inch MacBook Pro was still coming, Ubrani said, "We're also starting to see early signs of this from the supply chain. However, the timing of this is still uncertain." This would suggest that a November launch date of this year may also be too soon to hope for. Forbes also reported that a source in Asia said production was indeed underway. While all this adds uncertainty to a launch timeline for the 16-inch MacBook Pro, it does still appear likely the product is coming. A file within macOS Catalina 10.15.1 showed hints of an updated design, something both the 13- and 15-inch MacBook Pro models released in 2019 lacked.
Cause for delayOne previously speculated reason given for why the 16-inch MacBook Pro could be delayed was keyboard issues. These have plagued recent MacBook computers thanks to the issue-prone butterfly key switch mechanisms used to offer lower-profile keys. Even the newest MacBook Pro models retain the Butterfly keyboards, but there have been rumors that Apple would move back to a standard scissor switch moving forward. The transition away from one key switch technology to another could easily be a reason for a delay. Then there are other aspects expected that could further the delay. A redesigned Touch Bar could be contributing to hitch in production, as could the new, bigger display. Another factor that could be in play but out of Apple's hands is CPU availability. If Apple plans to go with Intel's powerful Comet Lake processors, supply may stand in the way. Intel has struggled recently with producing enough of its 14nm processors, and that CPU shortage may last into 2020. If Apple doesn't have the processors to put into its MacBook Pro models, it will just have to wait. And, switching over to an AMD Zen 2 processor doesn't seem like a likely option, especially since mobile versions have yet to launch. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 11 Nov 2019 01:17 PM PST Welcome to our pick of the best 3D printers money can buy. On this page, you'll find the best devices for 3D printing, for both home and commercial use. That means we've packed this list of the best 3D printers with devices of all shapes and for all budgets. So, you've got the best 3D printers that can fit on a desk or table, and are ideal for home use for hobbyists and beginners who are just getting started. We've also got the best 3D printers for enterprise and commercial uses. These 3D printers can handle large volumes, while keeping quality to the highest possible level. You'll find the best 3D printers for a wide range of budgets, from affordable 3D printers, to high-end 3D printers that may have high price tags, but offer unrivalled quality. It's important to note that because the devices in our best 3D printers list are all so diverse - and are aimed at different use cases - we've not listed them in any particular order. So, read our roundup carefully to see which 3D printer is best for your needs. No one wants to spend all their time researching all the best 3D printers – not to mention spending a ton of cash – so our list of the best 3D printers contains clear and concise information on all kinds of 3D printers, so you can find the best 3D printer no matter what your needs are. MakerBot Replicator+ The MakerBot Replicator+ is the successor to the popular MakerBot Replicator 3D printer, and the new version has brought improvements to nearly every part of the Replicator. This means the Replicator+ is faster and quieter than the previous version, while maintaining its excellent design and safety features. This desktop 3D printer is expensive, but it offers excellent print quality, and uses 1.75mm polylactic acid (PLA) filament. It's also user-friendly enough for home users and hobbyists to use - as long as your budget can stretch to the high asking price. XYZprinting da Vinci Mini If you're looking for a budget 3D printer, then there really is no better option than the XYZprinting da Vinci Mini. It remains one of the most affordable ways to get into 3D printing, and also the easiest, thanks to an easy-to-use interface. Just because it's a budget model, doesn't mean it doesn't produce good results, and the 3D printed objects it creates are very impressive considering the price - and size - of this 3D printer. Speaking of size, the XYZprinting da Vinci Mini is an impressively compact printer that makes it easy to store in an office or on a desk. Ultimaker 2+ The Ultimaker 2+ is a 3D printer that offers amazing print quality, making it one of the best 3D printers for professional use. It is incredibly reliable when it comes to producing 3D models, and the accuracy of the 3D replications is incredibly impressive. If you need a 3D printer that can reliably reproduce many 3D objects accurately, this is a fantastic choice. However, it is expensive, and the fact that it is aimed at professional environments means it's less beginner-friendly than some of the other 3D printers here. Home users are better off looking elsewhere. FlashForge Creator Pro 2017 The FlashForge Creator Pro 2017 is the best 3D printer that sits between budget 3D printers and expensive professional models. It's a lot cheaper than pro models, though it maintains the build quality and reliability that you'd come to expect from a professional 3D printer. It's not quite as cheap as the budget and beginner models in this list, but it offers greater accuracy when printing 3D models. It is a tad noisy in use, however. LulzBot Mini If you're looking for a first 3D printer to learn the ropes with, then the LulzBot Mini is another excellent choice. It's got a decent price, and is easy to use, though the print speed is quite slow. The hardware is open source, which means it has a flexibility that propitiatory hardware lacks, as a committed community of makers can work together to create add-ons for the printer. CubePro Trio The bulk of home 3D printers are limited to one- or two-colour printing, but the CubePro Trio has the capability to print three different materials in one session. This can be especially useful if you want to create an enclosed mechanism: nylon can be used for the gears, ABS for the surround and PLA for the support structure that can then be dissolved with caustic soda. The CubePro is an ideal solution for modellers and engineers who need to create 3D prints with moving parts. BEEVERYCREATIVE – BEETHEFIRST+ In general terms 3D printers are designed as boxes with purpose, however BeeTheFirst has created a printer with both quality of print and actual design in mind – this is a machine that really wouldn't look out of place in a modern living room. BeeTheFirst has also thought about how and where people will be wanting to use their printers – at work, home or both – and has incorporated a thin design with a handle that enables the printer to be easily transported. Lulzbot Taz 6 Initially you might be hard pressed to see the differences between the Taz 5 and 6; both feature a solid open frame build, large print base and ease of use. However take a closer look at the refinements in design and improvements in usability and the upgrades quickly stand out. Features such as the auto leveling base has evolved from the one featured on the Luzbot Mini and works just as well on this larger scale, and the slight changes to frame layout and control panel are all welcome. The Taz 6 is a big machine with an impressive print area of 280mm x 280mm x 250mm, with a 0.5mm nozzle capable of a minimum layer height of 75 microns and takes 2.85mm filament. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 11 Nov 2019 01:07 PM PST In this guide to the best VPN routers, we've listed the top routers that make it easy to connect to the internet via a Virtual Private Network (VPN). If you subscribe to a VPN, or are interested in doing so, then buying the best VPN router for your needs will allow you to browse the internet safely and anonymously. We've carefully picked the best VPN routers no just because they are compatible with VPNs, but because they make setting up and configuring the VPN quick and easy. Many people may think that using a VPN router is for advanced users only, but the best VPN routers on this page allow pretty much anyone to set up a VPN in a matter of minutes. The best VPN routers we list on this page can be used no matter what VPN service you sign up to. Plus, they will make sure that even with your network traffic going through a VPN, your internet speeds won't be impacted too much. While you can sign up for VPNs through browser extensions, by using the best VPN router for your budget, you're ensuring that all your network traffic goes through the VPN. This means every device on your network can take advantage of the security and privacy benefits of the VPN you sign up with. So, read on for our list of the best VPN routers. The Linksys WRT 3200 ACM is our choice for the best VPN router. Its no-nonsense design hides a remarkably versatile and powerful router that is a great choice for VPN use. You can install DD-WRT firmware for VPN compatibility, and it comes with four antenna and three bands for fast and wide-ranging network speeds. It also has four gigabit Ethernet ports and USB 3.0, making it an excellent router in its own right, even without a VPN. Anyone who’s familiar with Asus, and especially its more gamer-centric products knows exactly what they’re getting themselves into here – especially regarding design. However, if you're not a gamer, and just looking for the best VPN router, then don't discount the Asus RT-AC86U. It has some excellent VPN features that makes it a fast performer that won't see your internet speeds dropping too much when using a VPN. You can also install third party firmware if you want greater choice. The Asus RT-AC5300 is an excellent high-end gaming router that comes with a number of advanced features for making online and network gaming as lag and frustration free as possible. It also means it's a brilliant VPN router, and if you don't mind the expense, this is a great choice. The spider-like design won't be to everyone's tastes, but the eight antennae serve a purpose, as they can be used to direct your Wi-Fi signal throughout your home, giving this router an excellent range. On the surface, the Linksys WRT32X might not look that different than Linksys’ heavy-hitter, the WRT3200. And, well, that’s not actually that far off. The WRT32X takes all of the successful components of that highly rated router, and puts them in a router with a custom firmware that’s extremely easy to navigate and a very subdued and attractive visual design, making it one of the best routers with VPN you can buy. You will be paying a premium for this repackaging, but if you’re looking for reliable ping performance that online gaming requires, the Linksys WRT32X takes one of the best VPN routers and tailors it to your needs. If you're looking for a dependable mid-range VPN router that combines speed with a great Wi-Fi range and features aimed at games, then you'll definitely want to consider the D-link DIR-885L/R. It has a good selection of ports, and the user interface for setting up and configuring the router is nicely designed and easy to use. It also supports DD-WRT open-source firmware, which makes this a flexible and powerful VPN router that you can customise for your needs. If routers had a fashion contest, Netgear’s D7800 would be among the top contenders. Its solid black finish is complemented by a quartet of antennas. Plus it’s damn fast and bettered by its inclusion of a duo of USB ports paired with an eSATA connector. The real centerpiece, though, is the VDSL 2 modem built into the Nighthawk X4S D7800, negating the need to buy or lease one separately. The outfitted software isn’t too shoddy either; a simple Dynamic QOS system makes it a breeze to govern a multitude of devices on a single home network. Best of all, it's a great router to use with a VPN. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Surprise! Disney Plus has doubled the number of Marvel movies at launch to 16 Posted: 11 Nov 2019 12:56 PM PST We previously knew of eight movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe launching on Disney Plus when the service arrives very soon on November 12. Now, that number has doubled to 16, with the late announcement rolling out in another outrageously long Twitter thread. Also announced was a special called Expanding the Universe, offering a first look at coming Disney Plus MCU projects.
The list of movies launching on the service now goes like this. In bold, you'll find the movies that are freshly announced, alongside those we already knew were coming:
That's a big upgrade from the previous line-up, which felt like a good start, but was well under half of the total movies based in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As the official Disney tweet says, expect announcements for other movies soon, presumably as the US and Canadian rights go back into Disney's hands. The hope is that one day Disney Plus will become the comprehensive home for the MCU, but a few factors stand in the way, like the Spider-Man film rights belonging to Sony. That means the library won't be complete unless Disney strikes a deal to bring them over, which is entirely possible, but so far hasn't been discussed in the announcement plans for Disney Plus. These series will eventually be joined by a suite of new live-action Marvel series, like The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, WandaVision, Loki and Hawkeye to start, with more based on Moon Knight, Ms Marvel and She-Hulk coming down the line. Disney Plus launches on November 12.
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| The best small business routers Posted: 11 Nov 2019 12:53 PM PST If you're looking for the best small business routers money can buy, then you've come to the right place. In this guide we look at the best routers for small and medium-sized businesses. Any of them are also perfect for home offices as well. When looking for the best small business router for your needs, you don't have to worry about it being able to handle huge amounts of network traffic, but you'll still need something that has enough power to handle a number of employees and devices accessing the network 24/7. Modern routers now often come with dual or even triple band connectivity, as well as a slew of other features usually found on far more expensive enterprise-grade models, while costing considerably less. The complexity and requirements of running a wireless network these days mean that the best small business routers now have a much more varied feature set, as well as including hardware that’s often found in computers. The best small business routers should be quick to set up and easy to use and maintain, which means you won't need a dedicated IT team or administrator, which is good news for smaller businesses. All the powerful features found on this list of best small business routers will be easily accessible through an easy-to-use user interface, accessed either through a PC or mobile device. The best small business routers on this list have all been carefully picked by us due to their security, support, remote access, business grade VPN, WAN redundancy, connectivity options and scalability features, which are more important to business users than things like raw speed, value or QoS features. Asus has a reputation for manufacturing great consumer products and the Taiwanese firm – known for its laptops and motherboards – has been trying its hand at wireless products. The BRT-AC828 is its only business router and the device ticks a lot of boxes, even for small businesses looking for more than 10 simultaneous connections. Granted, it is excruciatingly expensive but packs the sort of features you’d never expect from a router like an M.2 slot to plug in an SSD to convert it into a mini-NAS. There’s a lot more here including support for RADIUS, the ability to aggregate four 1Gb Ethernet ports into a virtual 4Gb one (it has a mighty eight Gigabit Ethernet ports in all) and even support for LTE as a backup connection to improve resilience – the router already has two 1Gbps WAN ports that can be aggregated or used independently. As you’d expect from a top of the range router, it offers 4x4 MU-MIMO and theoretical speeds of up to 2.6Gbps with open plan coverage up to 100m (albeit on the 2.4GHz band). Asus has also partnered with Trend Micro to offer a built-in security package called AIProtection. If you want a good performing, no-nonsense router, then the Billion BiPAC 8900AX-2400 is well worth considering. Billion might not be as much of a well-known brand as some of the others on this list, but it has been around for more than a decade. We would especially recommend the BiPAC 8900AX-2400 to people with an ADSL2+ internet connection, as it can replace your existing modem as well. Of course, this involves a bit of tweaking – and it’s here that we offer a note of caution: this is a router suitable for people who are confident in setting up networks. If you want a plug-and-play stylish looking user-friendly router, this will not be for you. Don’t let its ugly looks (and the similarly clunky user interface) put you off, though: this is a great all-round router for your small business. Feature-wise, it can reach 2.4Gbps on both bands with an auto-failover feature should you connect a 3G/4G modem to its USB port. It is a bit lightweight compared to the competition in the connectivity stakes, though, with only four Ethernet ports and one USB 2.0 connector; but that’s reflected in its lower price. If you work in an office, and you’re ready to bring your networking into the modern age with one of the best routers for businesses, you seriously need to check out the Netgear Orbi Pro. It's a modular Wi-Fi mesh system, but it makes some design and performance changes that specifically cater to the business user. It’s not cheap, but if you run a business where you can’t afford anyone slowing down due to slow Wi-Fi, it’s worth every penny. Linksys is one of the most recognisable names in small business networking. It’s no surprise, therefore, that the company was one of the first to deliver a tri-band router which uses MU-MIMO technology – and a whopping eight antennas – to deliver two 2.17Gbps streams with an additional 1Gbps stream for legacy 2.4GHz devices. Managing three separate bands requires some serious firepower which is why there’s a dual-core 1.4GHz processor at the heart of the EA9500. Linksys recommends pairing the device with its own Max-Stream AC1900+ MU-MIMO Wi-Fi Range Extender to offer seamless roaming and improve coverage. Other than two USB ports, the router comes with a hefty eight LAN ports and a WAN port. There are no specific business features other than WPA2 enterprise wireless encryption – you won’t be able to bond Gigabit ports and there are no redundancy/failover options, or security extras. Nonetheless, the fact that this device can be controlled from an app makes it ideal for busy small businesses. Technically speaking, the Nighthawk X10 is a consumer router but like the Asus model above, it offers features that you will usually find on business routers. As technically advanced as most routers on this list, it is rated at 2600Mbps using 4x4 MU-MIMO and has plenty of LAN ports – seven Gigabit ones, in fact. You can aggregate a pair of them to reach 2Gbps and there’s even a 10G LAN SPF+ connector for NAS access (assuming you’ve got a device that supports this technology). Add in a pair of USB 3.0 ports and some powerful hardware (quad-core ARM processor clocked at 1.7GHz, 1GB RAM and 512MB storage) and you can see why this Netgear router will appeal to businesses as well as enthusiast-level consumers. Its most intriguing feature, though, has to be support for 802.11ad which is a short range, high-speed connectivity that requires line of sight to work properly. Also known as WiGig, it operates in the 60GHz spectrum and aims to replace wires altogether. One unexpected goodie included with the router is a 6-month subscription to Amazon Cloud Drive (double check which one, though, as Amazon killed the ‘unlimited’ tier mentioned in the marketing literature) and that’s a great bonus for backup purposes. The Synology RT2600ac is what you get when you fuse a traditional wireless router with a network-attached storage device or NAS (well, it gives you a bit more besides, too). The company is mostly known for its NAS boxes and while the modem doesn’t boast the beefiest specs or even a conventionally attractive shell like most of the competition, the RT2600ac packs a ton of features (like built-in VPN and the ability to aggregate two WAN ports) that make it worth your while. While it only has 4GB of storage built-in, you can connect an external hard drive and configure your own cloud service similar to Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive. You can even download a selection of NAS-grade apps like a VPN client and server. Unfortunately, the app selection is sparse at the moment, and the ecosystem needs better community support – which hopefully it’ll get going forward. Though it’s not exactly fool-proof in terms of its setup process and the more complex functions it offers, the Synology RT2600ac is much more accessible than most NAS devices. Bear in mind that this is only Synology’s second attempt at devising a router of its own, so despite some shortcomings here, there’s plenty of room to improve. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Amazon's pre-Black Friday sale includes deals on TVs, laptops, headphones & more Posted: 11 Nov 2019 12:34 PM PST Amazon's Black Friday sale is just around the corner, and the retailer is giving a preview with daily holiday deals that you can shop right now. You can find massive discounts on best-selling items that would make the perfect holiday gift for anyone on your list. You'll discover early Black Friday deals on TVs, laptops, Amazon devices, Dyson vacuums, kitchen appliances, and so much more. Amazon pre-Black Friday deals:Shop other deals with our Amazon Black Friday deals guide. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| AMD may pack GPU units into Ryzen 9 to keep Intel on edge Posted: 11 Nov 2019 11:59 AM PST AMD's latest CPUs built on the Zen 2 architecture are ticking a lot of the right boxes, and now the company appears prepared to give its higher-end models a boost. A number of Ryzen 9 APUs (CPUs paired with GPU cores on the same chip) appear in a leak from @Komachi_Ensaka on Twitter, shared by Notebookcheck. This leak shows a listing of products from AMD, and next to each processor name, there's a designation that appears to indicate graphics cores.
In the case of four Ryzen 9 processors, there appear to be 12 graphical compute units. These are 45W Ryzen 9 and 15W Ryzen 9 Pro models, making them appear to be likely contenders for high-performance mobile computers. As APUs, they would be ahead of standard CPUs in the naming scheme, thus appearing as Ryzen 4000-series products while still using the Zen 2 architecture found in Ryzen 3000-series CPUs. A series of mobile strides for AMDA few powerful Ryzen 9 APUs to feature in mobile devices could further boost AMD's surging strength, and push it even further in mobile. The company recently got a boost thanks to its prominent placement in Microsoft's recent Surface Laptop 3. However, we tested a Ryzen 5 model with nine Vega compute units, and it just didn't compete with similar laptops that featured simple dedicated graphics solutions. That could change with the new generation of APUs and the boosted compute unit count, though. The new Ryzen 9 APUs would benefit from the increased efficiency and clockspeeds available thanks to their their 7nm design, and therefore get even more from the integrated Vega graphics compute units. As Intel's Ice Lake processors push performance and efficiency ahead for Team Blue, and Tiger Lake could take it further, new Ryzen APUs could help AMD stand out with a powerful, all-in-one solution. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Motorola Razr 2019 release date, price, news and leaks Posted: 11 Nov 2019 10:46 AM PST Motorola Razr flip-phones were iconic devices back before full-featured smartphones conquered the handset world – but there's a chance that unforgettable design could make a flashy return with a new Motorola device that will be unveiled in mere days. We've heard many rumors about the new handset, allegedly called the Motorola Razr 2019: a folding phone that takes the old-school form factor and turns it into a 'clamshell'-type foldable phone. The foldable phone battleground is heating up, with the Samsung Galaxy Fold available to buy and the Huawei Mate X coming soon. But while the latter are premium devices, the Motorola Razr V4 (a potential name following up on the V3) is expected to be one of the first 'affordable' foldables. We've now heard the device is set to launch November 13 at an event in Los Angeles, so it may actually go on sale before Huawei's much-anticipated device. Whether the Motorola Razr 2019 matches the performance of existing foldables is something we'll only know when the latter is unveiled. Here's everything we've heard about the Motorola Razr 2019 so far, along with a wish list of what we want from it. Update: Leaked press images have given us a clear look at the likely design of the foldable Motorola Razr - and it looks remarkably small when folded up. But a later leaked image supposedly of the Razr 2019 shows an unfolded device about the width of a regular phone, but certainly longer than most phones. Cut to the chase
Motorola Razr 2019 release date and priceThe first Motorola Razr V4 release date rumor came from a report in The Wall Street Journal that pointed to February 2019 - a month that came and went with no sign of the phone. However Motorola sent out invites for a November 13 event that looks like it could be the launch event. Several teases and hints in the invitations point towards the reveal of a foldable phone, and it would be very surprising if Motorola had such a device that wasn't the new Motorola Razr. As for what it will cost, the WSJ report says to expect a starting price of roughly $1,500 (around £1,170, AU$2,010). That would make it far more expensive than most phones, but that’s not surprising given that it’s rumored to have a foldable screen. That's echoed partly by a later rumor, which says the handset will cost €1,500 (about $1,660, £1,375, AU$2,450). Since phone launch prices aren't always exact conversions in different regions, it's possible that it will cost $1,500 in the US, €1,500 in Europe, and perhaps even £1,500 in the UK. We'd expect it to cost more than AU$1,500 though, as that would be an incredibly low price compared to the other regions! Expect the new Motorola Razr to be a lot more modern (and a lot more expensive) It also sounds like Motorola and parent company Lenovo aren't expecting the Razr 2019 to be a mainstream device, with the WSJ report also saying that only around 200,000 units are likely to be made, and that in the US it's a Verizon exclusive. How do we know the Motorola Razr V4 is foldable?The main thing we've heard about the Motorola Razr 2019 is that it will have a foldable screen. The first hint of that came from Lenovo’s CEO Yang Yuanqing, who, during MWC 2018, said: "With the new technology, particularly foldable screens, I think you will see more and more innovation on our smartphone design. "So hopefully what you just described [the Motorola Razr brand] will be developed or realized very soon." Then, at MWC 2019, Motorola vice president and general manager Anthony Barounas, said, according to TrustedReviews: “If you go around the stores today, for me the phones all look the same. It’s difficult to see if it’s a Motorola, or [another brand]. How we differentiate to the consumer, show them something really different, that’s where foldables comes in. And that’s where Motorola also has a very big investment. I can’t say much but we have one franchise that will have a very big impact there.” So that's pretty much a confirmation that a foldable phone is in the works, though the Razr brand wasn't mentioned by name. Motorola Razr V4 news and rumorsWe've finally seen leaked images seemingly showing the new Motorola Razr 2019, and they're about what we'd expected, with a clamshell-like design and a screen (of possibly 6.2 inches) that folds in the middle. That size would make it far more compact than the other foldable phones that we've seen so far. Other details include an even smaller display on the front, along with a camera bump and what looks to be a button or fingerprint scanner. An additional image of the screen when fully open can be seen below, highlighting that there's no visible hinge. Another supposed image of the Razr 2019 taken in the wild was found just a couple weeks before the phone's unveiling. It's no wider than most smartphones, but is far longer when unfolded - and while it's hard to make out, there doesn't seem to be a very visible seam in the screen where it will fold. We've also seen patents pointing to a foldable screen. You can see images from the older patent immediately below and the newer one further down, but they both point to a clamshell design with a foldable display, much like the leaked images discussed above show. However, while the older patent shows a large hinge and seemingly a gap between the two display halves, the other, newer patent (found by 91mobiles) shows a truly foldable display. There's still a hinge, but this isn’t as visible when looking at the screen. This one also appears to have a smaller secondary display on the back of the phone, as we've seen in leaked images. That makes some sense, as otherwise you wouldn’t be able to see a screen unless the phone was fully unfolded. The newer patent also shows a notch at the top of the screen. The back also contains what looks to be a single-lens camera above the smaller display, and a fingerprint scanner on the lower section. Another rumor supports the idea that the device has a secondary screen. It also details some possible features of that screen, saying that you might be able to use it to scroll through web pages that you're viewing on the main screen. The secondary screen could also apparently be used to display notifications and a clock, to interact with Google Assistant when the main screen is closed, and to provide shortcuts to settings. It sounds then like it won't have the full functionality of the main screen if this rumor is right. Image credit: XDA Developers Another report revealed possible specs, as well as a logo (seen above, background filled in with black for clarity). The new Motorola Razr will supposedly pack a Snapdragon 710, either 4 or 6Gb of RAM and either 64 or 128GB of storage. It also may have 2,730mAh of battery, though the source noted that last spec might be out of date. However, given that the Razr V4 looks to be a fairly compact phone (at least by foldable standards) it might not need a huge amount of juice to stay on. Clearly, this would be a departure from other foldable phones, which so far have top-tier specs. And while previous rumors have revealed a somewhat cheaper potential price for the Motorola Razr 2019, it's still far beyond what today's non-folding flagship phones cost. The silver lining, of course, is that the Motorola Razr V4 might open up the door to mid-range foldables, that have weaker specs but lower prices. If you don't need cutting-edge processors and RAM to power foldable tech, perhaps we'll see more affordable folding devices sooner than we thought. What we want to seeRumors about the Motorola Razr 2019 are starting to roll in but we don’t know much yet, so we’ve come up with a list of what we hope it offers. 1. A great designOne of the reasons the Motorola Razr range was so popular was because of its slim, stylish design. Of course, the old models like the Motorola Razr V3, are dated now, but we’d like to see the spirit of the design carried on for the Razr V4, but in a more modern form. We want a slim, futuristic handset. The good news is that if the screen really does fold then it should at least be futuristic, though it might not be all that slim when folded shut. 2. Genuinely useful flexibilityThere’s a worry that early foldable screens could be little more than a gimmick, but we hope that’s not the case with the Motorola Razr V4. Hopefully, the company will find a way to make it feel genuinely useful. If Motorola successfully makes a screen that can change from phone to tablet size without feeling awkward then that would be a good start. 3. Flagship specsAny foldable phone is inevitably going to be expensive and rumors specifically suggest that the Motorola Razr 2019 will be pricey. So we really want to get our money’s worth, by not just getting a foldable screen but also specs that can compete with the best of 2019’s new and upcoming flagships, like the Samsung Galaxy S10 and iPhone 11. We want the Razr V4 to be able to compete with the latest flagships 4. A long-lasting batteryWe want all of our phones to have decent battery life, but this is of particular concern with foldable phones, as the larger screens could be a big drain. So hopefully there will be an appropriately large battery in the Motorola Razr V4 to keep it going through the day and beyond. 5. A palatable priceEarly rumors suggest this will be one very expensive phone, and we’d expect it to be too, since foldable screens are a new, likely pricey feature. However, for these devices to have remotely mainstream appeal the cost is going to need to be pushed down. That probably won’t happen until the second or third generation of foldable devices, but it would be a nice surprise if Motorola (which is known in part for offering great value handsets) manages to make an affordable one on the first attempt. 6. Near stock Android with foldable featuresOne thing we love about most current Moto phones is that they use a version of Android that’s had little done to it, ensuring the software is polished, easily approachable and typically quick to get updated. We hope the same is true for the new Motorola Razr. Or at least, for the most part. What we would like to see though are some software features that help you get the most out of the foldable screen. We’re not sure what those would be, but hopefully that’s something Motorola has given some thought to. 7. A sharp, durable screenBeing foldable is one thing, but we don’t want that to be the only thing the Razr 2019’s screen has going for it. We’d also like it to be a sharp, high-quality panel. And for it to be durable, because it’s going to need to be if it’s constantly being folded. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Best games console 2019: PS4 Pro, Xbox One X, Nintendo Switch and more Posted: 11 Nov 2019 10:33 AM PST The gaming landscape has changed a lot since the days when you only had one or two consoles to pick from. Back in those days it was also easier to make the right choice – Mario fans opt for Nintendo, Sonic fans pick Sega, easy! But fast-forward to 2019 and choosing the right console for you is a lot harder. Sure there are still plenty of exclusives that could seal the deal for you, but most of the new games out there these days are multi-platform. Add mid-gen upgrades and technological advancements to bring 4K HDR to (some but not all of) your gaming, and it can be difficult to figure out which console you should buy. The good news is, we're here to help you make that decision a little easier. We don't play favorites and we don't have a preference for one company over another. We're just here to play by the numbers and give you all of the details on the best and brightest new hardware.
That said, we have a few questions that'll help you decide: Do you need or want 4K? Is there a franchise you feel particularly close to? Do you want something you can play on the go? What's your budget? Gamers who want to play with the latest 4K tech (and have the TV to make the most of it) should consider the Xbox One X, PS4 Pro and Xbox One S, while HD gamers can stick to the PS4 Slim and Nintendo Switch. If you're a racing or a shooting game fan, Xbox has a lot of first-party titles that cater to that genre while Sony has tons of great action-adventure and RPG titles. Nintendo has a mix of everything, but you should go for Nintendo if you can't live without an annual Pokemon and Mario title in your life. To help make things a little less complicated, we've compiled this guide to the latest consoles on the market and weighed up their most notable pros and cons – with links to other dedicated pages and reviews if you want to dive even deeper. Best games consoles at a glance
Available in standard or slim versions, the PS4 is the baseline console offering from Sony. Since it launched six years ago, the PlayStation 4 has been a firm fan favorite, boasting incredible sales figures. The console's single biggest strength is its exclusive games - in world of increasingly service-based online titles, PlayStation continues to push narrative-driven single-player titles such as Uncharted, Spider-Man, God of War, Horizon Zero Dawn, and The Last of Us. It’s also the only console at the moment that offers access to virtual reality experiences (though you will have to purchase the PlayStation VR headset separately if you want to take advantage of this capability). If you're interested in the new 4K resolution everyone's talking about, you won't find that here. While even the budget Xbox One S offers 4K upscaling, the base PS4 is resolutely 1080p. PlayStation also isn't great when it comes to backwards compatibility so if you're hoping you'll be able to play your old PlayStation 3 library with ease, you won't. If you’re looking to enter the current console generation in the most affordable way possible and, you like what games PlayStation has to offer, then this is the console to go for. Buy this if you want: the latest generation games but don’t need 4K, you want PlayStation exclusive games, console VR, and a console for under £250/$250. Key reads: Make sure you check out our full PlayStation 4 review and our picks of the best PS4 games. Think it's the console for you? These are the best PS4 deals you can get right now. Anything the PlayStation 4 can do, the PlayStation 4 Pro can do slightly better. If you’re invested in the 4K resolution revolution and HDR makes you hot under the collar, this is the Sony console for you. The PlayStation 4 Pro plays all the same games as the standard PlayStation 4, so if you're upgrading you won't have to start your library afresh and you won't need to pay any more for new 4K games either. You may, however, see an improvement in how they look and perform compared to the standard PS4. The PlayStation 4 Pro is the most powerful console in the PlayStation lineup at the moment, capable of outputting native and upscaled 4K in games that have been patched to make that possible. Even games that haven’t been specifically patched can make something of this console’s greater power – you’ll find images look a little sharper and games will overall run more smoothly thanks to the PS4 Pro’s Boost Mode. Like the standard PS4, this console has an excellent library of games and some fantastic exclusives as well as Playstation VR support. Though it's capable, it's not every game that will output native 4K on the PS4 Pro – many of them will be upscaled as the console just doesn't have quite the degree of power required to maintain native 4K resolution and run a large game with consistent frame rates. The PS4 Pro also has the same problem as the PS4 in that there isn't good backwards compatibility for previous console generations. There's also no built-in Ultra HD Blu-ray player so if you're looking for a console that will play your physical 4K media, this isn't the one. It will, however, still play standard Blu-rays and DVDs, and can stream in 4K from compatible services. If you don’t have a 4K HDR TV and super sharp visuals aren’t something that will drastically improve your enjoyment of a game then this console might not actually be worth the extra cash you’ll splash on it, particularly if you already own a standard PS4 console. If you are coming into the new console generation for the first time and a 4K HDR TV is something you’re seriously considering purchasing, then the Pro will at the very least future-proof you. Buy this if you want: Native 4K and HDR gaming, PlayStation exclusives, VR gaming, native 4K for under £350/$400. Key reads: Check out our full PS4 Pro review as well as our list of the best games for the console. Think you might make the jump to 4K? These are the best PS4 Pro deals at the moment. Looking for an entry level console but not interested in what PlayStation has to offer? Why not look at Microsoft’s Xbox One S. This console has superseded the original Xbox One for many reasons – it has a much smaller and sleeker design, and it's just that little bit more powerful. Something this console can do that the standard PS4 console can’t is upscaled 4K. The Xbox One S’s 4K capabilities aren’t at the same level as the PS4 Pro or Xbox One X as the 1080p images are largely just stretched to fit a 4K screen without any clever checkerboarding but this rudimentary upscaling is reasonably impressive in a console with price starting from only £170/$190. To make up for a lack of good exclusives, Xbox consoles do have much better backwards compatibility capabilities than PlayStation consoles. On Xbox One S you’ll be able to purchase and play original Xbox and Xbox 360 titles, many of which have become key classics. If you ever owned an older Xbox console and you still have the games from that, or you really want to catch up on a bunch of excellent titles you missed out on then the Xbox One S is a great way to do this. An area where Xbox completely outstrips PlayStation is overall home entertainment – while both consoles are able to stream from a variety of entertainment apps like Netflix and Amazon, the Xbox also has a 4K Blu-ray player built in. This is a feature Sony was criticized for not having in the PlayStation 4 Pro, so if you have a large physical Ultra HD Blu-ray collection and it’s important to you that you’re able to play it then the Xbox One S will definitely win your favor here. If you’ve been thinking about picking up an Ultra HD Blu-ray player anyway, then this console is one of the cheapest ways to do so. One issue Xbox has compared to PlayStation is exclusive games. Where PlayStation has quite a robust collection of exclusives, Xbox is somewhat lacking. Franchises such as Halo, Gears of War and Forza might call this platform home, but their critical reception hasn't quite hit the heights of Horizon Zero Dawn and Uncharted. Though it does offer upscaled 4K, the Xbox One S's upscaling method is far less intelligent than the checkerboard method used by the PlayStation 4 Pro so if you're looking for a truly polished 4K experience, it's best to splash the extra cash on the PlayStation 4 Pro or the next Xbox console in our round up. Prefer to go disc-less? Then maybe the Xbox One S All-Digital Edition is a better option. The digital console boasts roughly the same specs as the Xbox One S but without a disc-drive - making for a lighter, more convenient console. Buy this if you want: Affordable but upscaled 4K, an Ultra HD Blu-ray player, excellent backwards compatibility, a console for under £250/$250. Key reads: Make sure you read our full Xbox One S review as well as our picks of the best Xbox One games to see what you could be playing. Think this is the console for you? These are the best Xbox One S deals right now. If power is the be all and end all for you, then you won’t find a more powerful console on the market than the brand new Xbox One X - well, until Xbox Project Scarlett releases. Do bear in mind, though, that you also won’t find a more expensive console either. The Xbox One X is Microsoft’s answer to Sony’s PS4 Pro and it’s safe to say it’s a pretty good one. Just like the PS4 Pro this console outputs native and upscaled 4K as well as HDR on games that have been patched to support these features. But because of its much better specs the Xbox One X offers native 4K on many more games than the PS4 Pro. And it's often more consistent in maintaining a 4K output. If you’re looking for the best 4K gaming experience possible on a console, the Xbox One X should be your choice. Like the Xbox One S, this console has excellent backwards compatibility support as well as a built-in Ultra HD Blu-ray player for your physical media collection. However, also like the Xbox One S, it suffers from a lack of console exclusives that really show what it can do. It's also the most expensive console on the market by a large amount. As a result, if you don't have the AV set up to do it justice it's hard to justify paying quite so much, particularly as the library of exclusive games is rather thin at the moment. Something also worth noting is that you may find you have to purchase a sold-separately external hard drive for this console. While its 1TB of built-in storage seems like a lot, 4K game files are large and it'll quickly fill up. Buy this if you want: Native 4K and HDR support, Ultra HD Blu-ray player, future-proofed gaming, the highest specs around. Key reads: Read our full Xbox One X review to dig into the details and peruse our list of games that take advantage of the console's power. Think the king of consoles is the one for you? These are the best Xbox One X deals right now. The Nintendo Switch is now two years old, and it's still proving to be very popular. This is the most unique option on the market at the moment as you can use it both as a handheld and home TV console. On Switch you'll find a quickly growing library of games that’s the most diverse offering from Nintendo in years. From thrilling exclusives like Super Mario Odyssey to essential indies like Stardew Valley, Nintendo's Switch offers all kinds of experiences. It doesn’t have nearly the same power as the standard PlayStation 4 and Xbox consoles and it certainly won’t play games in 4K or support HDR (in fact its screen is a pretty low-res 720p) so if you’re looking for a console that will win the spec wars you won’t find it here. You’re also less likely to find the latest and greatest third-party games on this console. While it now has titles such as Doom, Skyrim and LA Noire, many of these have been available on other platforms for months, if not years. We're slowly watching that change but the latest and greatest releases may still not make it here purely due to a lack of power. Of course, where PlayStation offers VR, Nintendo has its very own something special in the form of Nintendo Labo. This cardboard peripheral is one of the most innovative things we've seen in years and it has the potential to be great. It's also worth being aware that you're likely to need to purchase a separate microSD card for this console at some point as its internal memory is restrictive. Buy this if you want: a console that can be played on your home TV and taken on the go, access to Nintendo exclusive games, and you don’t need the highest resolution and the most powerful specs. Key reads: Looking to know more about the console? This is our full Nintendo Switch review. We also have a list of the best games the console has to offer. Think you're ready to Switch it up? These are the best Nintendo Switch deals at the moment. The most recent addition to the Nintendo family comes in the form of the Nintendo Switch Lite, a dedicated handheld alternative to the original Switch. The Switch Lite boasts the same power as its the original, but comes in a smaller - and lighter - package. It's also worth noting that the Lite is a solely handheld device and, while you can connect Joy-Cons to it, it's meant to be used by a single player. That means you can't dock it and it doesn't actually come with any Joy-Cons in the box. It also means that you are can't play all the games in the Switch library - mainly those that require docked mode or are party games. While Joy-Cons will attach, the screen is a bit too small to play properly. The Switch Lite is for those who aren't particularly fussed by the Switch's docked mode and would rather take their games on the go. The smaller screen makes for more comfortable portable play. Like the Nintendo Switch, you may need separate microSD card for this console at some point as its internal memory is restrictive. Buy this if you want: A more portable, comfortable alternative to the Nintendo Switch. Key reads: Looking to know more about the console? This is our full Nintendo Switch Lite review. We also have a list of the best Nintendo Switch games the console has to offer - though some may not be compatible with the Lite. Interested in the handheld? Check out the cheapest Nintendo Switch Lite prices and bundle deals. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| The 2017 MacBook Air is at its lowest price we've seen before Black Friday Posted: 11 Nov 2019 09:52 AM PST For those dying for one of Apple's MacBook Air laptops but lacking the four figures of disposable cash required for the latest model, Walmart is running an excellent deal as part of its early Walmart Black Friday sale. The retailer is selling the 2017 model of the original MacBook Air design at its entry-level spec for far less than it would cost you to get the absolute latest model – even at an entry-level configuration. (What can we say? It's an expensive laptop.) Of course, this deal isn't going to get you the latest and greatest that Apple's thin and light laptop line has to offer. However, it's certainly more than enough for the average user to get through general documents work and watching movies. Plus, it's one of the few Apple laptops still being sold in sealed boxes that have the illuminated Apple logo – an icon of a computing generation. There's no word on how long this deal will last. You might see this year's MacBook Air drop in price on Black Friday or Cyber Monday, but we doubt it will get quite this low. So, if the least amount of money spent is your priority, then this might be the way to go.
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| Amazon Echo vulnerable to old security flaws Posted: 11 Nov 2019 09:50 AM PST Security experts have warned that Amazon Echo devices could still be susceptible to a range of flaws. A team known as Flouroacetate were able to hack into an Amazon Echo device due to shortcomings in the security software used to protect the device. Hackers exploiting this "patch gap" would be able to overload an affected device to hijack the Echo, and possible even then gain access to a victim's home network.
Full controlThe findings were enough for the Fluoroacetate team to win the Pwn2Own hacking contest, which is held every year to highlight security flaws in modern-day devices. They used an Amazon Echo Show 5, which as an older release was particularly at risk due to not being eligible for some of the latest security patches sent out by Amazon. In this case, the device was found to be using an older edition version of Google's Chromium browser engine, which had been forked during its development. The Fluoroacetate team were able to target this outdated code through the use of an integer overflow JavaScript bug and a malicious Wi-Fi network to hijack the device and take "full control". The team, who netted $60,000 in bug bounties as their prize, shared the findings with Amazon, which has said it will be "investigating" the flaws and would take "appropriate steps" to protect its devices. Via TechCrunch This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Score a free Nintendo Switch or 4K TV with EE's stellar Black Friday 2019 phone offers Posted: 11 Nov 2019 09:42 AM PST Last year, EE came out of the gates early, beating the competition pre-Black Friday with a collection of phone contracts paired with a Nintendo Switch completely free. Clearly, this worked for the network as it has come back one year later with the same offer...with a few key improvements. The first and most obvious is that EE is now giving you some choice when it comes to your gift. Not an avid gamer? How about a free 4K Toshiba TV instead? - Head straight to EE to see all of your tech freebie options in full The second change EE has brought to this offer is bringing it slap-bang into 2019 with a selection of top devices from the last 12 months. Choose from top Huawei devices including the Huawei P30 Pro and P30 Lite or, Samsung's A series - A40, A70 and A80 included. Once you've decided which of the above devices is right for you, simply choose which of the two gifts you'd like and you're all set to go. We've listed the six mobile phone deals on offer below so you can compare your choices.
Huawei phone deals + free Nintendo Switch or 4K TVSamsung phone deals + free Nintendo Switch or 4K TVWhy should I get my next phone deal from EE?EE is the UK's fastest 4G network and that fact alone has drawn in a lot of support for their contracts, it has steadily become the most popular network in the UK. You'll also find that it frequently has some of the best phone deals out there on almost every new phone. EE also offers a few incentives to its customers that sweeten the deal. You can get six months of free Apple Music when you pay monthly with EE and the ability to use Wi-Fi to make calls when you just can't find signal anywhere.
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| Get a free year of Amazon Prime with TalkTalk's broadband and TV deals Posted: 11 Nov 2019 09:30 AM PST With the sheer amount of truly great value fibre broadband deals that are being unveiled at the moment, you don't exactly need a calendar to tell you that Black Friday is just around the corner. And TalkTalk is no stranger to bargain fibre deals, especially as it just dropped its fibre broadband deal prices...again. But now for any customers who are looking for TV along with their broadband - TalkTalk has just announced two ace deals. For just £25.95 a month, you get 80+ Freeview TV channels, a TV box that lets you pause, rewind and record your shows, average download speeds of 38Mb and - the kicker - one FREE year of Amazon Prime. Alternatively, for only an extra £2.50 a month, you can crank things up to the provider's Superfast Fibre plan. If you're in a busier household or just a streaming fan who wants faster download speeds then the average download speeds of 67Mb will be a much better fit. And one of the ISP's more attractive features is that TalkTalk broadband deals guarantee no price increases for the whole 18 month contract - something quite unusual with broadband deals these days. Or if you're looking for something else - perhaps something cheaper, faster or from another company - be sure you check out our best broadband deals guide. TalkTalk's new fibre broadband and TV deals:Want more your broadband and TV deal?This Black Friday offer isn't limited to the broadband and TV deals - if you want extras with your bundle, TalkTalk also has these on offer. As you go through the checkout you can add a range of extra bolt-ons, so you can completely customise your bundle. So if you want more movies, you can add Sky Cinema for £14 a month. Or if you're a sports fan, especially with the Premier League and NFL in progress - why not add Sky Sports for £18 a month (half the usual price). And TalkTalk's Entertainment Boost is only £6 a month and gives you access to hours of on-demand TV channels, including Sky One, FOX, MTV and more. Is Amazon Prime any good?In case you don't already know, Amazon Prime includes a range of added perks to your shopping with the online retail behemoth Amazon. There's free next-day and even same-day delivery available, access to Prime Video and its massive catalogue of TV shows and films, and when it gets to Prime Day you can take advantage of loads of exclusive discounts.
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| The cheapest PlayStation Plus prices for memberships for Black Friday 2019 Posted: 11 Nov 2019 09:10 AM PST So you're looking for a little help to find a cheap PlayStation Plus price? We can certainly help you out there as there's nothing worse for our deal hunters than hearing about people paying full price for things. Speaking of full-price, the regular price for an annual PS Plus membership in most stores or online through the PlayStation store is $60/£50, so that's the price you want to beat when looking at the latest deals on PlayStation Plus memberships. If £50 sounds more expensive than you remember in the UK it's because Sony put the price up by £10 in August 2017. Not to worry though, we've found prices closer to the old £40 for you in our PlayStation Plus deals price comparison chart below. You'll need a PlayStation Plus membership to play PS4 games online. On the "plus" side (that's right, I went there), membership also gives you access to the PlayStation Plus Instant Game Collection which includes free games each month that are yours to keep while you're a subscriber. The offer format changed recently to no longer include PS3 or PS Vita titles, so you'll only be getting current-day PS4 titles from now on. Don't worry, you'll still be able to re-download any PS3/Vita/PS4 titles you've added via PS Plus over the years even if your memberships lapses and then you sign up again. PlayStation Plus memberships also get you exclusive discounts in sales across PlayStation Network and lets you upload game saves to the cloud, which is brilliant for backing up your progress in case your console's hard drive fails. All in all, it's a great value for your money each year. That said, make sure you turn off those pesky auto-renew settings on your console to avoid paying full price, as we've found some tasty discounts for you with these cheap PlayStation Plus prices. Xbox fans, we've got you covered too with the cheapest Xbox Live Gold deals around. Are PlayStation Plus memberships worth getting?If you play games online then PlayStation Plus memberships are absolutely worth purchasing, if not essential to your PlayStation experience. PS Plus does have benefits for those who never play online, however. A constantly updating roster of new titles to download and play for free will save you far more than the membership costs each month, so you're never left wanting if you're open to new experiences and looking for something new to twiddle your thumbs to. On top of that, cloud storage and backups can really come in handy, especially since PS4 systems are ageing quickly now and are more prone to unfortunate crashes. The best Black Friday PlayStation Plus prices and dealsIf the prices below aren't for you, there's always the possibility of a saving during the Black Friday weekend. We'll be tracking all the PS Plus deals available when November 29 comes around, so be sure to save our Black Friday deals page for the big day - we've even got a specific page for the best PS4 and PS4 Pro Black Friday deals. The cheapest PlayStation Plus pricesCDKeys Update: We generally find that CDKeys is one of the cheapest prices to buy a 12-month PlayStation Plus deal, but technical gremlins sometimes mean the deals don't show up in our comparison chart below. Feel free to check the following CDKeys links though, just to make sure you're getting the best PS Plus deal. Prices are usually hovering around £38-£42 in the UK and $50-$58 in the US. The rumors are true. There's also a three-month subscription available, but the value isn't as strong and you're technically paying more per month compared to the 12-month PlayStation Plus memberships deals. Take a look. What are the free PS Plus games this month?We've got you covered there. Each month we update the list of extensive freebies for the PlayStation Plus Instant Game Collection. These games are free to download and play the entire time you are still within your PlayStation Plus membership. Why not bookmark the page below to make sure you never miss out? This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Rick and Morty season 4's UK airdate has been brought forward to November Posted: 11 Nov 2019 08:50 AM PST Update: E4 has listened to the feedback to the original 2020 airdate for Rick and Morty season 4 and has brought the premiere forward to November 20 on E4. It'll air at 10PM. Complaining: sometimes it works! Original story: Rick and Morty season 4 has finally been given a UK air date on Channel 4, but the news isn't great: UK viewers won't be watching the show until 2020. In the US, it'll start airing on Adult Swim from November, but in the UK, it'll begin in January at some point. It's a move that feels a little similar to how US TV used to be imported to the UK before the advent of streaming services. The season will be divided into two parts, each consisting five episodes, Channel 4 says, mirroring how it's being aired in the US (five will air in 2019, then five more will air in 2020). So, even though you've been waiting two years for more of Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland's inventive and frequently gross animated sci-fi series, you've still got a little while to go. The show will first air on Channel 4 itself, with repeats on E4. You'll be able to stream it on All4 too, of course. "Millions of fans have been waiting for more than two years for a new series of Rick and Morty, the most brilliantly bonkers show on television," says Ian Katz, Channel 4's Director of Programmes. "We’re thrilled that it will be aired exclusively on Channel 4 and I promise it will be worth the wait."
Channel hoppingChannel 4 has a larger deal to distribute a big chunk of Adult Swim's back catalogue on All4, and it's worth dipping in if you've never sampled its varied output of animated and live-action comedy. If you want to catch up on Rick and Morty specifically because you've somehow missed it up to this point, you can find the first three seasons of Rick and Morty ad-free on Netflix UK. Rick and Morty's last official trailer came a month ago. Check it out below.
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| Best website defacement monitoring service of 2019 Posted: 11 Nov 2019 08:40 AM PST In July 2001, the Code Red worm infected over 359,000 hosts which were running a vulnerable implementation of Windows NT. Visitors to compromised websites were greeted with the message: "HELLO! Welcome to http://www.worm.com! Hacked By Chinese!" Code Red and the phrase "Hacked by Chinese!" have long since passed into internet legend but the danger of website defacement is clear and present. Hackers can target your site at any time, so unless you are viewing a page as its been changed, it's hard to respond quickly. In this guide, you'll discover an elegant solution to the issue of website defacement in the form of the very best security tools on the web today. These automate the task of regularly checking your domains for anomalies and make sure to notify you if any unauthorised changes are detected. There are options to match all budgets from free services suitable for the occasional blogger to premium platforms for large business owners.
Visualping Visualping is a deceptively simple tool which offers powerful protection against website defacement. Users of the website or iOS/Android mobile apps need only enter a URL and their email address to receive regular updates of any changes made. The tool works by making regular snapshots of the page in question then comparing these on an hourly, daily or weekly basis. It can also be customized to trigger an alert for tiny, medium or significant changes. Visualping is not designed specifically for website defacement. As the developers' website mentions, it will work equally well for checking on the release on concert tickets or a new product launch. However its ability to display superposed 'images' as well as the fact you can control the frequency Visualping checks for changes means it's certainly fit for purpose. The basic free version of Visualping allows you up to 2 free checks per day. Costs vary after this on a very reasonable sliding scale depending on the number of checks required. For instance, to have Visualping check your site 40 times a day (every 36 minutes) would cost just $13 (£9.72) a month. If you need to monitor multiple domains consider installing the Visualping Chrome web extension. Once installed just click the Visualping button to start monitoring the current page. Through to its name Visualping may not be able to detect invisible to changes to pages such as modifications of source code. If malware is a concern consider one of the other tools in this guide. StatusCake StatusCake is a many-layered treat for webmasters. This British-based site offers a way to check your pages for defacement and downtime from a variety of locations: the project maintains 48 monitoring centers in 28 countries around the world. Many centers support the more recent IPv6 protocol. This offers subscribers a much more refined experience over simpler competitors. Not only can you adjust the frequency of checks but you can also specify the location from which you want to monitor pages. StatusCake even offers a speed test to show how quickly a page loads when checked. There is a free package which can perform up to 10 checks at 5-minute intervals. This is fine for hobby bloggers and those with very monolithic websites but business owners can benefit more from a paid subscription. These are very competitively priced compared to other monitoring services. StatusCake's 'superior' subscription, for instance, costs only $24.49 (£18.50) a month and performs up to 100 checks at 1-minute intervals. You can lower that to $20.41 per month with annual billing. Regardless of which package you choose, StatusCake includes multiple notification options including email, text message and even push notifications via Android/iOS. This service also works with some third party apps such as PagerDuty. Sucuri Sucuri began in 2010 under the guiding hand of developer Daniel Cid who envisioned a tool which could give webmasters better insight into the security status of their websites. It's safe to say that Mr. Cid has been successful. The cloud-based SaaS (Software as a Service) Sucuri works not only as a monitoring platform but contains many tools to help prevent malicious attacks by hackers such as a Firewall, anti-virus and DDoS protection. This may be why Sucuri was acquired by legendary hosting provider GoDaddy in March 2018. The Sucuri Website Firewall can handle malware prevention through use of a dedicated whitelist, so that only authorised parties can connect to your site. Sucuri also regularly monitors changes to your pages and can display appropriate warnings. Furthermore, there is a free website malware and security scanner that you can use at sitecheck.sucuri.net. The service also maintains a dedicated incident response team, who work 365 days a year to assist you with restoring your site if anything goes wrong. Subscribers to the 'basic' Sucuri package for $199 (£149.46) per year are guaranteed a response within 12 hours to all support requests of this kind. The basic tier also includes features such as the firewall (with support for whitelists and blacklists), continuous scanning for defacement and malware cleanup. Sadly, there is no free trial for Sucuri, however the main site offers a money back guarantee within 30 days if users aren't satisfied. OnWebChange OnWebChange is one of the most versatile and useful tools when it comes to defacement protection. Since it was originally developed by Briton Tom Carnell in 2009 the service has exploded and can boast tens of thousands of users. This is due in part to the sophisticated monitoring features. In the first instance, users can select one or more areas to monitor within a web page. This is ideal if you maintain pages with dynamic content. OnWebChange will notify you each time a change takes place, either via email or via push notifications in Android/iOS. Power Users can also use a HTTP CallBacks with their own login data to adjust website content automatically e.g. to restore a defaced page. Furthermore, users can use multi-region tracking which allows you to visit the web pages as if you were visiting them from different geographic regions around the world. The generous free tier offers subscribers advanced CSS (Page Content Selection) as well as the ability to scan both PDF and plain text files for changes. Free tier users are permitted a maximum of 3 tracked sites a month. Checks are made up to 30 times (roughly once a day). Premium subscribers such as those who opt for the 'Standard' package for $3.10 (£2.55) a month, benefit from advanced features such as unlimited trackers and checks every 60 minutes. The highest tier of subscription called "Turbo-100", enables 5 minute tracking with some additional features. IPVTec IPVTec was created in 2014 under the supervision of a founding member of cybersecurity firm IPVSecurity who was unhappy with the monitoring solutions available to clients at the time. Like Sucuri, the monitoring toll IPVmon is cloud-based meaning setup is minimal and you can start monitoring no matter how small the resources of your own network. The monitor routinely checks for website defacement but also contains a number of other handy features such as verifying your SSL certificates are in date, detecting if pages are unreachable, as well as scanning for malware. Emphasis has been placed on pro-active searches for anomalies to prevent problems before they occur. This includes actively scanning for domain hijacking and DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks as well as defacement. If any irregularities are detected, users are notified with details via text message and email. Messages include a recommended 'call to action' to remedy the issues. IPVTec also has a dedicated dashboard for viewing notifications. Sadly there is no free version but the IPVTec website offers subscribers a free 30 day trial to accustom themselves to the platforms features. The basic (Pro 5) package costs $24 (£17.94) a month ($19 a month annually) and permits monitoring of 5 pages and a single domain. Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons (Peter Angritt)
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